One day, three states

DAY 9 – MAY 19 – SPRINGFIELD MO TO TULSA OK

With some reluctance on my part, we left that cute motel for parts south and west.
The only thing that I would not miss was a leak through the wall that soaked the carpet in front of the bathroom. We could have done without that. But when it rains in the Midwest, it really rains. And an old motel has a lot of leaky places.

Springfield, MO – a town like many others. Except for the multi-police-car chase that sped past us going the other way. That was certainly different.

We went past the Tower Theater (1948 – 1997) – it has one of those classic art-deco style façades. Too bad it no longer operates; I would have loved to see inside.

And the Shamrock Court Motel was just too cute to pass up.

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Interesting info I stumbled onto when looking up more about the place – it was built in 1931, and constructed entirely of hand-placed Ozark stone. There’s something about the architecture being “complete with ‘Sunburst” and ‘Diamond’ patterns,” but the description (from a realty company) was poorly written, and it’s hard to tell what they meant.

And on to Paris Springs, and Gay Parita Station.
Wow, was this place fun! So much to see!

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The manager/proprietor, who took over from the now-deceased couple who put this place together, was a real character. Chatty as a magpie! He was really eager to share his knowledge—luckily, we were pretty much his sole audience.
He recommended three places that could not be passed up—even wrote them down for us. So, we took his advice and visited them. I don’t even know if they’re in the Route 66 books. They are, however, indelibly etched in my memory.

This truss bridge was built in 1926, and is still in pretty good shape. It led us straight into Item #1 on his list–Spencer, MO.

This info is from The Illustrated Route 66 Historical Atlas, by Jim Hinckley:
Having learned of plans for a new highway, Sidney Casey bought the entire town of Spencer, which consisted of a vacant store and two acres of land, for a reported $400.00 in 1925. With the flow of traffic on Route 66, Casey’s enterprise, consisting of a service station, café, barbershop, and garage flourished. However, the realignment of US 66 in 1961 to bypass the (truss) bridge wholly eliminated business. The Francis Ryan family acquired the property in 2011 and refurbished the façades to their 1930s appearance.

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All well and good, but we must push on.

The next thing on our Gay Parita host’s list was Red Rock II, which was absolutely fascinating.
Here’s a bit of info about this place, taken from the Route 66 Adventure Handbook by Drew Knowles:
…This town…(was) created by a local artist northeast of Carthage. Red Oak II is a village—partly the original Red Oak—that was brought over from its original location more than twenty miles away and installed here, presumably to attract nostalgia-minded travelers—and it keeps growing. It features a multitude of vintage structures, including…filling stations, and several residences, both occupied and otherwise. There’s even a mock cemetery.

Red Oak II, Missouri – A Stroll Through the Past

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We got to talking with a lady who lives there. She was an absolute delight—told us more about the site than we could possibly remember. She had her own place there, where she lived with her rescue dogs.
She told us that people tended to drop their unwanted dogs near the town, and she had adopted three of them. These pups looked pretty happy with where they had ended up.

Terrible that people would just treat their pets as throwaway objects.

Lowell Davis, the mastermind behind this town, also created the “Crap Duster” sculpture in Carthage.

This is a replica of a flying manure spreader. Now THERE’S a job with a lot of potential–yech!

The Route 66 Drive-In here in town is still in business. We couldn’t get any closer, as it’s private property and it wasn’t open at the time.

We passed by the DeSoto Plymouth Building,

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either before or after the Boots Motel in Carthage—the third item on our Paris Spring’s friend’s list.

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What’s cool is that this place is back in business! I would have loved to see the inside. Such a funky exterior!

And on to Joplin, where we saw…almost nothing. There were sites noted in the books we read, but they weren’t readily found, and we were feeling the time pinch.

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We saw, but didn’t go into, Wilder’s Steakhouse. Have to say, the place had a great sign.

Then, Toto, we found ourselves in Kansas. Just when we crossed the state line, I do not know. But there we were, rolling into Galena.
This is where we found “Cars on the Route”

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http://www.kansastravel.org/4womenontheroute.htm
and the “Murder Bordello.”

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Galena’s Murder Bordello

I would have loved to explore more of both, but neither was open.

Now, what’s really handy about many of the places along the Route is that they have restrooms open to the public. This way we can take care of two items of interest at the same time.
This was true of Nelson’s Old Riverton Store in Riverton, KS. The building was built in 1925 and is still going strong. (I think the bathroom had pretty much the original plumbing. But beggars can’t be choosers.)

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Also in Riverton was the Rainbow Bridge Loop, which we almost missed. Luckily we were able to backtrack and get into a good parking spot for pictures.

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This sign says it all:

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Baxter Springs was our last stop before we entered Oklahoma. Just a couple of drive-by shutter-shots—a tank on the grounds of the Fort Blair Historical Site, and a 1930s-era Phillips 66 station.

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Um…Toto? Guess what. We’re not in Kansas anymore…again.

On to Quapaw, OK. The name of the town is not pronounced the way it looks, which is something I didn’t know. The city-limits sign made sure that visitors knew this. A quick look-up on the interwebs refreshed my memory—it is pronounced “O-Gah-Pah.” The town is named for the tribe, which is a member of the Sioux nation.

The things you learn…
https://route66mc.com/town.php?ID=353

We made a quick stop to take pictures of Dallas’ Dairyette, which is now closed. I couldn’t find any info or history about the place; we had found it on our Route 66 phone app, but I can’t access it now.

Next stop—Commerce, OK. The two sites we wanted to see were pretty much away from any, er, “commerce.” They had nothing around them to support the tourists they were trying to attract.

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Which turned to our advantage—no cars or people to get in the way of our picture-taking.

The Dairy King

was right across the street from the cutest, tiniest gas station I have ever seen.

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Our next town was Miami, OK, where we had a very brief picture-stop at Waylan’s KuKu Burger.

The Coleman Theater in Miami was a place we couldn’t pass up—yet we did. Luckily, we were able swing back around and find parking on a side street. We came out with the cameras snapping.

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http://www.colemantheatre.org/opening-weekend
Such beautiful architecture! Bet it’s haunted too. So cool!

And now—on to Afton.
We got out to take pics of the Packard Showroom,

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but the building across the street from it was even more interesting.

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The Rest Haven Motel was a challenge to find, since the address was not easily available from any sources. Another one of those loop-back-and-try-again sites. (It’s at 1st St. and Mulberry, if anyone’s interested.)

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The Avon Motel, or what is left of it, was fascinating.

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I would have loved to explore inside the rooms, but there were a lot of rusty nails lying about, with the nastier bits straight up and waiting for feet to puncture, so I had to give it a pass.
The most memorable part of this site was not the motel. We were there with another couple who was taking pictures also, and it turns out that the woman’s grandparents had spent their honeymoon there! I hope it had less tires in the rooms back then.

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(I could make a really bad joke about motels and “being tired,” but I’ll refrain…)
http://www.route66times.com/l/ok/afton-avon-motel.htm

Clanton’s Café, in Vinita, seemed like not much, but it had a surprising bit of history on its property.

And another old motel—the Chelsea in, well, Chelsea—was a short stop…

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And Claremore had an old motel and a cool bridge…

Now, Catoosa has a very recognizable Route 66 icon—the Catoosa Whale. I’m sure you’ve seen this in photo shots here and there.
But it was nothing like I thought it would be.
The park it was in was much smaller than I was expecting. But it was just as quirky as the whale within it.

Even the bathroom was a bit on the odd side.

Fishing was allowed, but only catch-and-release. The pond was so small, though, that I’m sure there was only a handful of scarred, punctured fish swimming around in there. I visualize a sub-surface Gothfish culture thriving, with all the fish vying for “street cred” in the form of lip holes and hook scars.

More history:

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We stayed long enough to get in some good shots, then it was on the road again.

The Arrowood Trading Post was worth a drive-by shot.

It was a bit of a drive further to Tulsa,

and our overnight digs at the Campbell Hotel.
This was a pretty cool-looking place, and we took a good number of pics.

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To tell the truth, I was hoping to catch a ghost or two. Oh well…

We went to the Hard Rock Casino for dinner, where I bought another shirt.

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Then we did some neon-hunting on the way back to the hotel. There were some really terrific examples—Paul worked hard at getting good shots of them.

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And that brings this day to a close.

The next day would be our last full day on this trip, and was the most memorable one—for reasons we never expected.